Castro Steps Down!

POSTED BY Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith, 19 February 2008

Paving the way for his youthful brother Raul, 76, to take the reigns officially, Castro resigned this morning. And with those reigns, he's passing along his iron hand and his iron fist. "My wishes have always been to discharge my duties to my last breath," Castro wrote in an online letter to the Communist Party daily Granma. But, he wrote, "it would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to offer."

Given that we haven't seen Castro since he had intestinal surgery in 2006 when he was 79, we'll probably have a good three years with Raul before Old Age and General Disrepair take their toll on him as well.

But apparently only three active years and the last name Castro won't stand in Raul's way, the NY Post reports:

The resignation opens the path for Raul Castro's succession to the presidency, and the full autonomy he has lacked in leading a caretaker government. The younger Castro has raised expectations among Cubans for modest economic and other reforms, stating last year that the country requires unspecified "structural changes" and acknowledging that government wages that average about $19 a month do not satisfy basic needs.

Add to that list G.W.'s favorite basic need - democracy - and you've got yourself a high and mighty speech coming out of Rwanda:

President Bush said Castro's decision ought to spark "a democratic transition" for Cuba.

"The international community should work with the Cuban people to begin to build institutions that are necessary for democracy and eventually this transition ought to lead to free and fair elections," Bush said Tuesday in Rwanda. "The United States will help the people of Cuba realize the blessings of liberty."

But the people in Cuba today didn't seem to notice much - and neither did the people in Miami. It's so quiet, in fact, USA Today has taken to calling it "muted reaction." Read: Not much changed, so not much excitement.

The reaction to Fidel Castro's resignation has, by all accounts, been muted in the Cuban exile community of southern Florida.

The Miami Herald describes the reaction thus far as "optimism tempered by caution."

"A few people waved flags or honked their cars' horns, but little jubilation seemed evident as regular customers trickled into the Versailles and other restaurants and open-air coffee stands along Calle Ocho, Little Havana's main artery," the paper says on its website.

The Herald doesn't see much immediate change in the way U.S. government officials deal with their neighbor -- and longtime foe -- to the south.

"It's a good day for the Cuban people. They're no longer ruled by a ruthless dictator," Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., tells CNN. "The real question is how to we hope for a better day for the people of Cuba so they can elect their own leaders."

Like they did Raul? Lots of buzz, not a lot of change out of Cuba today.